Zomba
TREEZ
We strive to protect and preserve one day at a time :)
Due to the need for fuel wood and timber, deforestation is rampant and uncontrolled throughout Malawi. Forests are being cut down at an alarming rate with no end in sight.
With over 70% of the population living in extreme poverty (World Bank), a growing population, and consequently a decreasing amount of arable land for families to farm, the pressures on Malawi's natural resources are growing exponentially. The reality is that when people are desperately poor, they are unable to make forward-thinking decisions. It is all about the now.
Forests are being cut down all over Malawi, it is happening quietly, discretely, mostly away from main roads and urban areas but the hundreds of bags of charcoal produced from these forests are visible along all main roads, in plain sight.
A few people find this heartbreaking, but not enough find this alarming. In fact, general opinion about global deforestation often seems to believe that this is a minor problem compared to the health issues or educational issues facing the Global South. But the trees and conservation are intrinsically linked to health and wellbeing. If we do not look after our land, our soils, our trees, the land itself will not be able to sustain the needs of its population.
Malawi will be facing much more than a 'fuel wood famine' - it will be facing a full-blown humanitarian crisis with little or no access to water, impoverished soils which will generate little or no harvests to feed its population, and no money to import what it needs. We are not being alarmists, we are being realists. It is happening and it breaks our hearts.
TREEZ is trying to reverse the trend and desperately needs your help:
You can also donate by clicking on this link
Read on to find out more about some of the activities TREEZ is carrying out:
These include:
- Fire patrols, including tools, fuel, airtime etc. 2 teams of 2 are active on the South Western Slopes patrolling from early morning to late evening. The idea is that should there be any fires, the patrols can spot them early, alert us and we can organise for sponsored conservation group members to come and help fight the fire if necessary.
The last 5 years, we have managed to reduce the incidences of uncontrolled bush fires from 37 annually to 1.
This year has been extremely dry only 2/3rds of our normal annual rain fall and low maize harvests. This year we suffered 5 fires - Our members turned out in great numbers (including one who came straight from church in his Sunday best) and all fires were controlled eventually.
Fires cause significant damage to ecosystems and particularly to water availability and soil degeneration. Through fire prevention, we are able to improve both water and soil quality while increasing ecosystem biodiversity!
- Tree survival payments. These are annual payments for the number of trees present at the time of counting, in the sponsored groups' designated area. By paying for the number of trees in the area it is in the groups best interests to have as many trees as possible. The money is then divided between the members of the group. This method ensures that the trees are worth more to the members standing, than cut down. Groups include 4 football and netball teams (who spend their money on kit, and transport for away games), choirs (who spend their money on instruments and recordings) and community conservation groups who put their money into village banking schemes.
- Payments for trees within the community: in order to encourage community members to have more trees, TREEZ, through their partner Sustainable Global Gardens, is paying members for their trees on their land, thus providing an incentive for people to have more trees. Special emphasis is on agroforestry trees on their farm land and indigenous trees on villages copses, as well as timber trees in village woodlots.
- Regenerative agriculture training programmes. So far TREEZ has provided permaculture courses for conservation group members, as well as soil conservation workshops and kitchen garden training sessions. The aim of these is to provide conservation group members with the tools and knowledge to improve their gardens, grow more food and hopefully spread these skills to other community members.
- Provision of bamboo seedlings to over 500 households in the community to provide them with their own source of firewood and take the pressure away from the forest. The bamboo will eventually be used for construction, fuel wood and income. As a bonus, the bamboo can serve as a rain/wind shield to the house thus providing some climate resilience to the household.
- Creation of 14 tree seedling nurseries for trees to be planted out in the communities. We hope to be planting over 200,000 trees in the next 5 years :)